John Akomfrah in New York City

John Akomfrah in New York City

British filmmaker John Akonfrah will be artist-in-residence this Spring at New York University’s Institute of African American Affairs. He is joined by the Ethiopian-American musician Meklit Hadero. The institute has a number of events planned around these two with the theme “The African Diaspora And/In The World.” They’re described as being “at the forefront of … [the] politics of new Pan-Africanism formations.” The institute’s website does not say much else as to what that implies (nor do the email notices I receipt about Akomfrah’s visit),so we’ll find out over the next two months.

It is the first time I hear of Hadero, but Akomfrah, born in Ghana and raised in Britain, is a brilliant filmmaker.